Summary Review: This book should come with a warning “danger – extreme testosterone overload ahead.” If you love dirt, grease and sweat as part of your world building and men who live and love on the edge, then you will love Drive Shaft.

Jensen Rivers wasn’t looking for trouble. As the new kid on the block at Clyde’s Body Shop, all Jensen wanted was a job, a place where he could put his head down and ass up. Young and handsome, he was the kind of simple, honest guy who was happiest when he was working hard, with oil smeared across his chest and grease up to his elbows.

But Dean ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson plans on getting more than just Jensen’s hands dirty!

Reckless and arrogant, drenched in sweat and dripping with a masculinity that cannot be tamed, Hutch challenges Jensen to a series of perilous night races. The prize: sexual domination!

Night after night, wheels burn, passions flare and the no-holds-barred lust between two testosterone-fuelled daredevils ignites. But losing a race is one thing. Losing your heart is something altogether more dangerous.

Will Jensen risk everything to find the love trapped behind Hutch’s fearless façade? Will Hutch bury the secret tragedy of his past before he throws away his last chance at a future?

Kickstart your need for speed, fire up your lust for life and buckle up for hottest thrill-ride of the year—Drive Shaft.

THE REVIEW:

Twenty year old Jensen left Texas because he could no longer live in the same house with his stepfather who beat him. He decided to seek other pastures and contacted Clyde, a distant relative and owner of Clyde’s Auto Repair & Body Shop in Southern California about a job. Clyde was unsure which branch of the family tree Jensen hailed from, however he didn’t really care as long as Jensen was willing to work. When Jensen arrived and met Hutch, the other mechanic, sparks flew as they challenged each other for racing supremacy – Jensen’s Ducati against Hutch’s Viper and may the better engine and man win. The first race was everything and more than I expected. The excitement of the race and drive to win at all costs drove Jensen and Hutch as each man fought to come out alive and ahead at the finish line. The men considered the danger to be incidental and it was topped by down and dirty, raw, rough sex at the end of the race.

Just when I thought that the story was all about oneupmanship and winning I discovered that Hutch was extremely vulnerable and was using his brash exterior as a front because he didn’t want Jensen to find out that he was hurting inside due to a personal loss.

One of the reasons I love Geoffrey Knight’s stories is that I know I can count on him to throw me a curve or two, and his stories and characters are always unusual. I expected the unexpected and he didn’t disappoint me in Drive Shaft as he flipped the switch on his protagonists and changed them from drag racing fiends with nothing on their minds but winning a race and topping at sex, to men who needed someone to love. Jensen’s gamble to win the man he was beginning to love turned out to be the ride of his life in more ways than one, as he had to battle Hutch and the elements for his heart. Here’s some of the prose in the book:

Jensen asked himself, if he could fix a car, could he fix a heart? He looked at his grease-covered hands. He wanted to hold Hutch in those hands. To feel his warmth, his tenderness. To rest his head against Hutch’s chest and listen to the beat of his heart. Not the angry pounding that had driven Hutch to become the man he was today. But the calm, peaceful, contented beat of the old Hutch. Of a man who once knew love. He wondered what it would take to win Hutch’s heart.

The characterizations were extreme as was the sex. Some elements of the story shocked me even though I had reviewed at least three of this author’s books and thought I knew a few things about his twisted mind based on his stories, but apparently I didn’t. Both protagonists were complex and well drawn, especially Hutch who lived every day by facing down Death because he didn’t want to live. Geoff Knight sure knows how to engage his reader as the dialogue was funny and the prose sucked me into the story. The one thing I would have liked was a longer story but I could see that keeping up the incredible pace would be hard on readers because the tension could cause heads to explode. 🙂

The supporting character of Clyde was well done and I loved the fact that he slept the days away in the garage with his trusty companion, an old blind female black Labrador named Moses by his side, and that his wake-up call to go home at nights was a can of his favourite brew.

I didn’t know what to expect when this story was sent to me for review. Of course the blurb made it clear that Drive Shaft was not going to be the usual laid back, angst filled romance, and it was far removed from most M/M romance plots. If you want to compare Drive Shaft to the typical M/M storyline, think of it as watching a Grand Prix, Formula 1 or stock car racing event vs. puddle jumping. The plot is a car and motor cycle lover’s dream as the vehicles, in addition to being an extension of the protagonists’ personalities, seemed like characters themselves, and it was hard occasionally to separate one from the other. This author’s books always make me think of movies and I guess The Fast and the Furious is a fair comparison to Drive Shaft.

If you’re willing to go for a ride of a different kind and can embrace sex that’s wilder and more extreme than anything you probably have read before, if you don’t mind men with grease underneath their fingernails, dirt and grime on their hands, who spend their days in dirty coveralls, then you might want to try Drive Shaft. But be warned – this story is an adrenalin rush from start to finish with sex that’s on the edge and over the edge, and you will either love or hate it as Jensen and Hutch battle for supremacy in the race for each other’s bodies and hearts. Vroom!

Recommended for those readers who like gut wrenching speed, a plot that seems simple on the surface but was anything but, and excitement and a heart throbbing pace that doesn’t stop.

30 comments

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I just finished reading this one and while it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, it was OK. I think I would have liked it more if Jensen wasn’t referred to as ‘the young Texan’ in every other sentence (or so it seemed).

Hi Lisa
Now that you mention it I can see why this book would not be your cup of tea. I never thought about the phrase “the young Texan” as being repetitive because I’m not from Texas and I guess neither did the author who is from Oz.

I tried to make it clear in the review that this book was mostly for thrill seekers because it was a lot about racing and extreme sex, and would not be suitable for most readers since it was over the edge.

Great review, Wave. It’s not the sort of book I’d go for based on the blurb and cover, but you’ve persuaded me to give it a go at some point soon. I like the sound of the heat and intensity – oh yeah, and the grease ;D

Josephine
This book is definitely one of the hottest I’ve read in the sex department. WOW. If you like sex that’s totally different and off the chart, as well as speed and grease, then I recommend you read it, but only if your heart can take it. 🙂